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You may want to spoil them straight away with a new cat bed, food and water bowls and a handful of toys but the one thing they need is some high-quality food (and lots of it!) to support their rapid growth and healthy development.
When we adopted Arya in May from a local Petbarn store after seeing her profile on the RSPCA Adopt-a-Pet portal, we were told she had been fed a particular brand for her first 10 weeks so we dutifully purchased a 1kg bag of the same brand to ensure we would not upset her tummy.
After all, she would have enough to get used to – including a brand new house and family including 3 large dogs! But we always planned to transition her over to a new food as soon as convenient.
Having done a little bit of research for our dogs in the past, Vetalogica Naturals did tick all our requirements:
✔️Australian-made and still family-owned
✔️ manufactured locally in Sydney where we live
✔️ could be bought directly on their website or in our local pet store
✔️ offered a crude protein content of 35% so it should satisfy the hunger pains of a fast growing-kitten!
✔️ available in a 3kg bag which would last weeks, giving us time to properly assess if Arya would indeed like it – apparently some cats are fussy? – and how well she would do on this new diet.
What's in the Vetalogica Naturals Grain-Free Chicken Kitten Food?
The first named ingredient is Chicken Meal sourced from Australian farms, a good source of protein and amino acids to ensure Arya would develop strong bones and healthy muscles. It also contains the B-group of vitamins which help with metabolism and vitality.
The second ingredient are Peas, another source of protein (commonly used in grain-free cat and dog food) as well as delivering fibre and antioxidants to assist with digestion.
Tapioca (Starch) has a very bland taste which makes it a good choice for pet food but it does not have a lot of nutritional value. It’s still a new source of carbohydrates so most pets have never had it, which is why it is sometimes used in allergy formulas. Potato (Starch) also listed in the first five ingredients is also commonly used to bind kibble.
The 6th named ingredient is Ground Flaxseed (increasingly popular in grain-free pet food) and a proven source of Omega Fatty Acids which assist with great coat and skin condition.
Down the list, we found Blueberries – another source of antioxidants and fibre - and Spinach also a good source of Omega Fatty Acids and vitamins to support our cat's health plus dried pumpkin, another source of fibre. All up this kitten food includes a minimum 2% of Fibre which is great to promote gentle digestion.
There’s a (very) long list of added vitamins and minerals which we won’t itemise here but we noted the addition of Taurine which is an essential amino acid for cats. It is exclusively found in animal-based proteins which is why feeding your cat a vegan diet is not recommended. Taurine is critical for normal vision, normal digestion, normal heart muscle function and it helps your cat maintain a healthy immune system
Our priority as a new cat owner was to choose a kitten formula containing no fillers or by-products. We are not "anti-grain" but we choose to feed our pets a diet without any artificial colours and preservatives.
We made that mistake with our senior dog twelve years ago but we don’t fall for just pretty packaging (that said, the Vetalogica Naturals bag does look great!).
Our Experience with Arya
Only two weeks after her arrival, we realised Arya had made a serious dent into her first bag of food and we would be running out in the next few days so we purchased our first 3kg bag of Vetalogica Naturals Grain-Free Chicken Kitten Food.
Because we could not find the brand in the local "big box" ret retail pet stores, we decided to support our local independent - a new PetO store recently opened just up the road - as they offered good prices and their staff was both friendly and helpful.
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| "Arya: Don't be late ever again to serve my breakfast or I'll eat the bag!" |
We slowly added more of the new kibble until there was no more of her old cat food left, which took about a week. She took to her new diet like a trout swimming upstream and proceeded to grow at a rate of knots! When her stitches (from her early desexing operation) came out, Arya weighed 1.6kg but at her next vet visit four weeks later for her last vaccination booster shot, she was already 2.6kg at 16 weeks.
Just imagine increasing your own weight by 62.5% over just four weeks, well that's she did ...
We will admit that we did not weigh her food in the early days: measuring 48g of food (the recommended daily feeding for a 1.6kg kitten, aged 3-6 months) is not easy!
It’s hard to tell how heavy she is now as we won’t sit still long enough on our home scales to weigh her properly but our guesstimate is that she’s easily put on another half kilo since and occasionally looks like a Lynx cub!
Her recommended daily serve is around 100g now but we just started weighing her food as she may look a tad chubby... She has been allowed to graze unfettered for two months but interestingly she seems to be slowing down a fraction of her own accord and does not always finish her daily allocated portion.
Looking at the daily feeding guidelines, it appears that her main growth phase will be over at 6 months as feeding quantities decrease from that point.
Our Verdict
Arya has been eating the Vetalogica Naturals Grain-Free Chicken Kitten Food exclusively for about 6 weeks now and based on how quickly our kitten has grown and her overall vitality - literally swinging off the chandeliers! - we can't fault this kitten food.
She has had no issues with digestion, no acid reflux episodes, no accidents at the other end to report either so this kitten food has not just met but exceeded our expectations so far.
The only issue we have but this seems to be evenly shared across all brands is how much more expensive kitten and cat food is versus dog food? At $13.33/kg, this is without doubt a premium option of kitten food but it's a little expensive.
We will certainly keep you updated on Arya's progress and diet in coming months!
Price & Where to Buy
RRP: $39.95 (3kg bag) from www.vetalogica.com.au
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